Explore the Collections

Paul C

A drawing after Puget's statue in the Louvre that is similar to the one on page XVIII recto in this sketchbook (see Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1987-53-52a), but with some interesting differences. Holding the sketchbook horizontally rather than vertically, Cézanne is able here to indicate almost the entire length of the figure's extended leg, giving the silhouette a more open, irregular character. He also relies more on shading, applied in well-defined areas, to describe the powerfully rounded forms, rather than on his usual heavily repeated contours. As a result, the statue seems a more concrete, tangible object situated in a more specific milieu; only some indications of the architecture of the gallery, such as appear in a similar copy (Chappuis, Adrien. The Drawings of Paul Cézanne. 2 vols. Greenwich, Conn., 1973, no. 578), would be needed to complete the evocation of the setting. Theodore Reff, from Paul Cézanne: Two Sketchbooks (1989), p. 222.